San Francisco History

San Francisco is a bustling metropolis known as much for its diverse culture as for its rolling hills, fog, and cable cars. Stretching seven miles in each direction, the City by the Bay sits on the tip of a peninsula and is bordered by San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. This location gives San Francisco the benefit of cool, mild weather all year round, but it also blankets the city in fog for months at a time. San Francisco is a liberal city, with a mixing of cultures from almost every nation in the world. Neighborhoods like Chinatown, the Mission District, and Little Italy all maintain their own distinct cultural identity, even while contributing to San Francisco's melting pot.

The city actually began as the Mission San Francisco de Asís, founded by the Spanish in 1776, and the area became a part of Mexico in 1821. The small trading village of Yerba Buena was founded near the mission in 1835, which drew American settlers to the Golden Gate area. California was claimed by the U.S. in 1846, during the Mexican-American War, and Yerba Buena's name was changed to San Francisco. Despite its status as a trading port and naval base, however, San Francisco didn't truly begin to grow until 1848 with the discovery of gold. A number of entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the sudden wealth, establishing early on San Francisco's status as a major commercial center. The banking industry and the railroads also flourished in the wake of the California Gold Rush.

San Francisco has a countercultural tradition, harkening back to the Beat Generation of the 1950s. The bohemians and beatniks in North Beach gave way to the hippies in Haight-Ashbury and their celebrated Summer of Love in 1967. The San Francisco Sound, a musical trend that arose from the counterculture in the 1960s, was embodied by such bands as Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. In the 1970s, San Francisco became one of the earliest centers of the gay rights movement and the Castro became one of the first neighborhoods to openly fly the rainbow flag as a symbol of gay pride.

San Francisco's architecture is an eclectic mix of modern and Victorian. The tight row of restored Victorian houses, known as the Painted Ladies, has become almost as iconic as the Golden Gate Bridge or the towering Transamerica Pyramid. Since the city is situated near the San Andreas and Hayward Faults, it is prone to earthquakes. Most of the quakes are minor, but the city has suffered widespread devastation on a couple of occasions. Because of this, San Francisco has issued strict structural requirements for all new buildings, and called for the retrofitting of its older structures.

The "City by the Bay" has been an important center of commerce and finance since the days of the California Gold Rush. However, tourism has also become a major part of San Francisco's economy. Its world-class hotels and restaurants, as well as its cutting edge Moscone Center, have made San Francisco one of the top ten locations in the U.S. for conventions and conferences. Visitors flock to the city to visit Pier 39 near Fisherman's Wharf. This popular shopping center offers a variety of stores and restaurants, as well as ferry rides to Alcatraz Island.